Home  Basketball (M) Men's Basketball - Grant Johnson Leads Bears to Opening Night Win
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Men's Basketball - Grant Johnson Leads Bears to Opening Night Win |
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 Grant Johnson led all scorers with 20 points in the Bears season opening win.
Senior Jeff Prebeck registered a double-double on opening night as he had 17 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, senior Al Sowers added 15 points while junior Craig Johnson also had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds for Coast Guard which won its season opener for the first time since 2003, snapping a three-game slide.
Coast Guard will take on host N.Y. Maritime on Saturday night at 8 p.m. in the championship game.
Cal. Maritime (2-3), an NAIA school, which had already played four games, started strong taking a 11-3 lead. The Bears responded and battled back and sophomore Stefan Lewis gave Coast Guard its first lead of the game, 19-17, when he hit a three-pointer with 7:30 left. Coast Guard was 7 of 12 from three-point range in the first half as Grant Johnson was a perfect 4 for 4 from beyond the arc.
With the score tied at 21-21, the Bears (1-0) outscored the Keelhaulers 17-4 to end the half and take a 38-25 into the locker room. Prebeck had 11 points and seven rebounds in the first half as the Bears shot 51.7 percent from the floor (15-29).
Cal. Maritime got right back in the game by scoring the first seven points of the second half cutting the Bears lead to 38-32. Coast Guard answered with an 11-2 spurt to open up its largest lead of the game 49-34.
The Keelhaulers would not go quietly as a four point play by Will Williams with 5:43 left cut made it a one possession game with the score 60-57. Sowers hit a three-pointer with 3:31 left as the Bears increased the lead to 63-57. He knocked down a pair of free throws with 1:08 left and Grant Johnson also made two free throws with 50.7 seconds left as the Bears iced the game, taking a 69-59 lead.
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